Dr. Peter Deak is an assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering who joined the department in August 2022. He received his BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Dayton (Dayton, OH) and his MS in Chemical Engineering and PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Notre Dame working under Dr. Basar Bilgicer. His PhD work was designing novel diagnostics and therapeutics for food allergies. After his PhD, Dr. Deak worked in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago working under Dr. Aaron Esser-Kahn, investigating novel subpopulations in innate immune cells. His research at Drexel focuses on using minor chemical modulation of innate immune cells to facilitate antigen specific tolerance. More specifically the Deak group designs nano-formulations to modulate innate immune cells and specifically dendritic cells as potential therapeutics for autoimmune diseases and transplantation rejection. The Deak group also works on diagnostics for autoinflammatory diseases and targeted adjuvants to generate antigen specific immunity of chronic viral infections (Hepatitis, HIV, etc.)